Judge denies Nashua man’s request for new attempted murder trial

By JOSEPH G. COTE

Staff Writer

NASHUA – A judge has turned down a Nashua man’s request for a new trial on his 2012 assault and attempted murder convictions.

Ronald Bourdon argued his court appointed attorneys did not adequately defend him at the trial and asked Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Jacalyn Colburn to order a new trial. Colburn rejected Bourdon’s arguments, but he has already asked her to reconsider that direction, according to a motion filed by his new lawyer, Theodore Barnes. ...
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NASHUA – A judge has turned down a Nashua man’s request for a new trial on his 2012 assault and attempted murder convictions.

Ronald Bourdon argued his court appointed attorneys did not adequately defend him at the trial and asked Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Jacalyn Colburn to order a new trial. Colburn rejected Bourdon’s arguments, but he has already asked her to reconsider that direction, according to a motion filed by his new lawyer, Theodore Barnes.

Bourdon was 69 years old when he was convicted on charges of attempted murder and four counts first-degree assault following a jury trial in 2012 and was sentenced to at least 221⁄2 years in prison.

He was convicted of stabbing two teenage brothers who were working at his Linden Street home on June 14, 2011.

The boys claimed Bourdon attacked them after accusing them of stealing a laptop computer. He said he wielded the knife in self-defense.

At a hearing in April, his former attorneys, public defenders Elefttheria Keans and Joseph Tessier, took the stand to explain some of their strategy at the trial.

Both lawyers were questioned by Hillsborough County Attorney Patricia LaFrance about their decisions on what evidence they focused on during the September 2012 trial, what evidence they down-played and more.

Keans said she spoke with Bourdon several times about his case, going over the evidence and what strategy she and Tessier thought would be best.

She said the defense attorneys decided to focus on inconsistencies in the victims’ statements to police, and Bourdon’s claims of self-defense.

Colburn said there was not enough evidence based on trial transcripts to back Bourdon’s claims his former lawyers were constitutionally ineffective by not including certain questions when cross-examining the teenagers or not presenting evidence about the amount of blood police found in Bourdon’s kitchen.

“Many of the defendant’s allegations in his revised motion are cursory without any specific references to trial or pre-trial testimony, which would have greatly aided in the analysis and allowed the court to more fully consider any prejudice,” she wrote.

Barnes argued in his motion for reconsideration that Colburn should have relied more on Keans and Tessier’s depositions rather than only on their testimony from the April hearing, according to court records.

After Bourdon’s sentencing hearing in December 2012, Scott Dunlap, who was airlifted to a Boston hospital after the stabbing, said he was relieved Bourdon was going to prison.

“The thought of holding my brother as he bled out in the street, hoping he will pull through. … No kid should have to watch his brother get stabbed,” he said in his portion of victim statement.

Bourdon is serving 171⁄2-35 years in prison for attempted murder and five to 15 years for assault. He also was given concurrent sentences of 7½-15 years for assaulting Dunlap, and a suspended sentence of 3½ to seven years for criminal threatening and criminal restraint.

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Cote on Twitter (@Telegraph_JoeC).